


Body swapped

by Geneviev



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Bodyswap, Everybody Lives, M/M, Minor Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, accidental love confession
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:07:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24755257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geneviev/pseuds/Geneviev
Summary: It's not my fault, I wrote it because of a Tumblr post -pernico-under-the-dead-sea's AU where Percy and Jason do a bodyswapWhere Nico has no idea that the Jason with whom he is having a conversation is, in fact, Percy.
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Comments: 10
Kudos: 175





	Body swapped

Percy woke up with a strange feeling. He didn't open his eyes, so he couldn't be sure, but something wasn't right. The hardness of the bed, the unusual smell of ozone, the humidity in the air. Everything just felt... off.

He slowly opened his eyes and while everything was blurry, he looked around just to find himself in a strange and unfamiliar place. Well, it wasn't that unfamiliar because, considering the furniture, it was Camp Jupiter, but that couldn't be true. He clearly remembered that in the evening he went to bed in his cabin in Camp Half-Blood, not at the other end of the USA.

He considered that Mrs. O'Leary brought him there, but that wouldn't make any sense, nor the idea of a newly discovered Stargate-like portal under his bed, so the only logical conclusion was that he was once again kidnapped.

At least now he had his memories - well, the important ones definitely: he was Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson (and of Poseidon, but that's not relevant). His best friends were Annabeth Chase and Grover Underwood, and many other people. He was a high school graduate waiting for September to start college, and till that, he was working in the camp as a riding instructor. He remembered the good, the bad, and the best memories of his life, so even if he had amnesia, he didn't lose his whole life this time.

As he blinked around, he noticed that it was a lived-in place. Not a cozy one; everything was in order, nothing out of place, but there was a picture on the wall of Thalia and Jason hugging and another one on the desk of all of the Seven and Nico in front of the Argo II.

So, it was the room of either Jason or some creeper who is obsessed with them. If the former, Percy may not have been in big shit, but if it was a stalker...

He didn't let himself think about it. Rather, he got up and had the second heart attack that morning. His body... was not his body. There was something wrong with it.

Not the same height, balance - not even the right skin tone! He quickly raised his hand to his eyes, and it was a stranger's hand. When he heard the idiom 'know something like the back of your hand' he didn't know there will be a time when he could use it in a literal sense, but - he knows his back of his hand, and it wasn't his!

With frantic eyes, he searched for a mirror, but there was none in the room, so he tried seeing himself in the window's reflection. It wasn't a perfect solution, so maybe it was the glass' fault that it didn't show Percy, but Jason, when the usually green-eyed boy looked in it. Because there was no way in Tartarus that he was in Jason's body. Right?!

_Calm down, Percy. This is not by far the weirdest situation you found yourself. There has to be a good explanation for this. Just think about nice thoughts: blue chocolate chip cookies, the sea, Nico, blue cake, Nico… Everything is going to be all right._

He breathed in and out, tried counting back from ten, but even after feeling a bit less panicked, the image in the glass didn’t change. As a last resort, he pinched himself, but as he expected, nothing happened. He had to accept the impossible reality: he was really in Jason’s body.

But how? He pondered, but nothing came into his mind. He was a good, polite boy, who didn’t irritate and provoke the gods – or at least not in the last few days -; he didn’t drink any strange beverage; he was friendly with the children of Hecate, so nobody had any reason to screw with him. Maybe it was an act of revenge? Or somebody wanted to prank him? Or maybe it was a misunderstanding… Or the intended recipient wasn’t even him, but Jason! The possibilities were endless, and because he knew he was not Annabeth to calculate the chances of each possibility, the only thing he could do is to carry out the following list:

\- go outside and see whether there’s something wrong or not,

\- don’t let anybody to figure out he was not Jason,

\- don’t complicate things,

\- don’t screw up Jason’s life (but is Piper is here, don’t kiss her!),

\- find somebody trustworthy to get information,

\- find a way back to Camp Half-Blood,

\- ask help from Annie and/or Chiron or anybody who can undo whatever is this,

\- be once again Percy Jackson in Percy Jackson’s hot body!

He nodded to himself and beamed at the knowledge that even without Annabeth he could make a plan that doesn’t involve improvise. Well, let’s just stay with: it involved other things also, not just “improvise”. But even if he could live without the help of his best friend, he was too tired of his problematic life where he couldn’t relax for a few hours without getting into another shitty situation and needed his best friend simply as somebody he could lean on. But without any drachma, he couldn’t even IM to Annie.

So, the only thing he could do was not staying in the room and moping around but going outside to find a way home. Pity, that Mrs. O’Leary was staying with Cerberus for a few weeks as their bonding time and it was a shame that Blackjack was home - but maybe he could ride Tempest.

With these thoughts, he put on the glasses laying on the nightstand, got up from the bed where he was sulking, opened the door, and went on his way just as anybody else would. At least he was familiar with the layout of Camp Jupiter because of his _nice holiday_ there, and he knew most of its residents by sight. He greeted those who greeted him but didn’t engage in conversation. While he could fake being Jason because he was friends with him and he was also a praetor once, still, he didn’t have Jason’s memories about the individuals and he didn’t know his relationships with them. Obviously, the best action to do was not giving anybody a chance to discover him being not!Jason. Romans were an alarmingly suspicious, trigger-happy bunch, so better not give them a reason to think he had a nefarious plan which involved disguising himself as their beloved praetor.

“…hen the sun sets, we will come together in the arena and…” When Percy heard Octavian’s pompous voice, he immediately spun on his heel and attempted to run away from that bastard. Even if in the end Octavian managed to form a good relationship with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the Oracle of Delphi, and turned out not that big of an asshole, he still wasn’t Percy’s favorite person, so if he could avoid meeting him, it would be a blessed day for him. (I mean, apart from the teeny-tiny fact that he was in an unknown situation, but who cares about _that_ , right?)

“Jason!” heard a familiar shout and the rhythmic tap of someone running in his direction. He looked back over his shoulder and a smiling Nico was rushing towards him. Well, not him – towards Jason. He is smiling because of Jason, not because of Percy.

 _Of course, he’d smile at Jason…_ Percy couldn’t help of his jealousy, but tried to hide it and managed to force out of himself a half-hearted smile. It’s not like he could blame Nico and couldn’t understand his reasons for hating Percy. But at the same time, he was disappointed that even after all these years, all these mutual hardships Nico was still hating him. He could laugh with Will and Lou Ellen, he could smile gently at Jason and Reyna, he could joke with Leo, but all Percy got was cold shoulders, glares, and anger.

“Hey, Jason, I thought you’d be with Reyna and Octavian talking about the _Neptunalia_ ”, said Nico, already standing beside Percy. The body swapped boy didn’t know what Nico was talking about, but judging the word _Neptunalia,_ it was either a weird orgy in Neptun’s temple or a festival held in honor of Neptune. Wait – no! The orgy would be called _Neptunanalia_ , so maybe it was the latter option. Either way, Percy didn’t know about it.

“I – uhh… Octavian was an a… was annoying and I wanted to get some air before dealing with him”, answered Percy a bit awkwardly. Being Jason was not easy – Jason was calm and collected and a rule-lover, but at least Percy knew he could count on the Octavian-effect having an impact on everybody. The _Octavian-effect_ , described by Reyna, was that no human in the Earth could spend more than a few hours in the presence of Octavian without 1, wanting to kill him, or 2, wanting to kill themselves. There is no exception. No one. Not even perfect Jason or saint Rachel.

“Ugh, I can understand that. There is no one worse than Octavian…” Nico’s voice was full of contempt and this gave Percy the perfect opportunity to subtly get an honest answer out of Nico.

“Well, there is m– uhh… I mean Percy?” Okay, so, _subtly_ was never his middle name, but whatever. The interesting thing was, that Nico didn’t agree immediately, but looked at him like he was an idiot. Percy knew that _expression_ very well…

“Are you daft?!” asked Nico incredulously. He glanced around nervously but when he saw that there was nobody on the corridor besides them, he continued. “Jason, you know he is the love of my life! You were _there_ , you made me talk about this with you. Saint Jackson, the big hero – the man of my dreams?” 

Error. Percy.exe stopped working. Not processing. Error.

The son of Poseidon, the hero of two big prophecies, the teacher of Camp Half-Blood, the destroyer of… etc etc – the young man in question couldn’t understand Nico’s words. It was surreal – him as Nico di Angelo’s, the Ghost King’s dream man?! It had to be a prank. Maybe Nico knew he wasn’t Jason and decided to torture him by pretending to be in love with him just to laugh at his face. It couldn’t be that the love of _his_ life was in love with him, right? 

“Why are you so red? Don’t tell me you forgot about it! I’m denouncing you as my best friend…” pouted Nico, but Percy was still in shock, trying to compute this idea. 

“I… I, uhh… I have to go!” said Percy and rushed away. He didn’t know where he just had to be alone to understand what the Hades happened. He just had to get away.

“Where are you running?! Jason? Jason!” He didn’t turn back, he was such a state of shock, he couldn’t think clearly.

It was not Percy’s proudest moment in his life, running away from Nico’s accidental love confession, but it was better than standing there, mouth wide open, like an absolute idiot. Hence the rushing away.

So…

Nico di Angelo was in love with him.

It was… shocking. Like a life-turning revelation. It was the same as knowing his father being the Greek God of the Seas, Poseidon. It was as it would be discovering the Earth is flat or Australia doesn’t exist. To live with a fact for more-or-less six years just to learn the truth was, in fact, the opposite.

Nico di Angelo. In love. With him.

How inconceivable was that?!

When he came to sense, he realized that his legs were leading him to the stables where he collapsed on the haystacks. He felt a bit foolish about his behavior that he fled just because of an accidental love confession, but he lived through so many life-altering revelations that this one was his limit. Everyone has a point where they just have to take a moment for themselves, and this was clearly his. He will deal with the fallout; he will put Jason’s and Nico’s friendship in order, he will figure out how to become himself once again and then he will apologize and confess to Nico. He will admit that the Jason that morning was Percy and confess that the love Nico felt towards him was requited.

But first, he needed to breathe and not think about love, relationships, or potential parental problems.

He sighed and let himself relax by the familiar feeling of a beloved place. Not understanding the neighing of the horses was strange for him but being the son of Poseidon was a physical thing, not just a spiritual thing. While his emotions were useful when using his powers, they were in his body, which was hopefully currently inhabited by Jason.

He was curious about using the power of a child of Zeus/Jupiter, he wanted to try out flying, but he wasn’t sure whether the gods knew who he was or not, and he wasn’t in the right emotional state to try it either way. He wanted to survive at least until he got _the boy_. Any more time than that would be just a nice gift from Hades himself.

Well, time to face the music.

Percy dragged himself back to where he left Nico. The Ghost King was not there, but a bit further, looking suspiciously at the approaching Jason-shaped Percy. 

“What was that about?” He asked sourly. Percy attempted to think about something believable but came up with nothing, so he just improvised.

“Well, I, uh, forgot to, umm, call Piper to wish her good morning.” He was sure he was going to be found out because there was no way it was convincing, but before one of them could say anything else, a familiar voice chimed in.

He turned around and saw Annabeth in the IM. “Everything is all right, Seaweed Brain?” the blond girl asked with a raised eyebrow. She looked like somebody who has enough of all of this nonsense.

“What?” Nico demanded with a faint voice. He looked confused, but also like somebody who doesn’t want to accept the logical explanation. 

“Annie!” shouted Percy excitedly. Finally, he had the possibility of getting his body back! Well, her timing was not the best, because he didn’t want Nico to find the body swap out like this, but at least he could count on his best friend to help him be normal again. But before that, he had one problem to solve: 

Nico and their mutual pining.

“What?!”

“Oh, hi, Nico! Can you believe that Jason was trying to pretend he was Percy just to get information about Piper out of me? And that he was such a lousy Percy that he declined a _blue candy_?! What did Percy do?” Annabeth's grin was conspiratorial, her expression was showing an understanding that only two people with the same burden could feel, but Nico was not in the state of playing along.

He. Confessed. To Percy.

“I… have to go”, said Nico ashen white and immediately tried to run but a hand prevented him. He glared at Jason – no, Percy – with anger and disappointment in his eyes. 

“Wait! Please, don’t go!” pleaded the other boy. When Percy was fifty-five percent sure the younger boy won’t run away, he turned back to the IM. “Annie, I have to talk with Nico, but we’ll meet with you at camp. Bye!” He severed the connection without waiting for an answer and he directed all of his attention at the fuming and glaring Nico.

“Why would I wait?! Just to hear you making fun of me?!” Nico demanded. Even with his obvious defensiveness, and the anger in his eyes, he seemed mostly hurt. Percy could deal with anger and hatred, he could live with that just as he lived with that before, but he couldn’t stand seeing Nico hurt and defeated. 

“No, Nico! I wouldn’t do that. I wanted to do this right!” The son of Poseidon tried to explain, but his words just made it worse. 

“Right, yeah… And what would that be? Running away from me every time you see me?” asked Nico sardonically. 

The boy currently habituating Jason’s body immediately protested. “NO! I wanted to be myself and not _Jason_ when I say this: Nico di Angelo, I’m in love with you.”

“Yeah, sure”, snorted Nico and grimaced. If Percy wouldn’t hold him still with his hand curled around his arm he would have been gone in a second. He couldn’t bear Percy’s jokes – because it had to be a joke. Even if the other boy didn’t look like he was making fun of him. There was no way that Perseus Jackson, the hero of Olympus was in love with him.

“I’m completely serious. I fell in love with you when I first saw you at Camp Jupiter without my memories. I wanted to be with you so bad, but things happened and I remembered that you hated me. I promised myself that even if I couldn’t be with you, I wanted to see you happy. But if you are in love with me and I’m in love with you, maybe _I_ could be the one who makes you happy?” Percy, in Jason’s body, appeared to be so earnest, but Nico still couldn't let himself consider that it was real.

Nico just had to be sure this wasn’t a hallucination or something the Stoll brothers came up with. It would have been too elaborate, but he wouldn’t put it past them. The only reason he believed that the boy in front of him was indeed Percy was that there was no reason for Annabeth to lie. But to think Percy discovered his feelings, moreover, he requited them…?! “Is this…? Is this a dream? Are you pranking me?” The normally confident and nonchalant boy looked so small and vulnerable, Percy just wanted to hug him, squeeze him and turn him into a human burrito with the help of a fluffy blanket, where nothing wrong could reach him.

But first, he had to assure the boy that his feelings were real and genuine.

“No and no – this is not a dream and I’m not joking. I, Percy Jackson, am completely in love with one Nico di Angelo.” He said this confidently, but inside he felt he was like an anxious, jittery jelly. (A blue jelly, of course!) 

“I – umm…” Nico couldn’t find the right words to express himself. His cheeks were getting pinker and pinker, almost like he had a sunburn. The currently blond boy stepped one step closer to him and reverently stroked Nico’s face. 

“Can I kiss you?” asked shyly, not moving either of his hands off of Nico’s body. The black-haired boy moved closer like he was hypnotized and nodded uncertainly.

“Yeah…”

Percy leaned towards Nico, but the smaller boy was the one closing the distance between them, kissing Percy, slow and deep with tongue. The currently blond one pressed closer and tugged Nico’s bottom lip between his teeth gently, tangling his fingers in Nico’s black curls. The younger boy let out a soft moan as Percy’s other hand slowly inched from his arm to his neck and back again. Percy felt like his body was electrified, like the power of Zeus’ son was yearning to let out. The only thing keeping him grounded was Nico; his body between the wall and the son of Hades. They let themselves immersed with each other, they didn’t notice the sound of approaching footsteps.

A high-pitched scream made them jump from each other, like two little boys getting caught doing something wrong. They looked like deer in headlight to a brunette girl, who was standing in front of them, eyes wide open, hands covering her opening-and-closing mouth. 

“And that’s why I wanted to be myself when I do this”, mumbled Percy, a bit guilty.

Nico nodded and cleared his throat. “Right. So, Camp?”

“Camp”, Percy agreed and immediately felt the familiar tug of shadow travel.

\---

“Did you hear it?! Marie saw Jason Grace and Nico di Angelo _kissing_!” 

“No way!”

“But it’s true. It’s so romantic – the son of Jupiter and the Ambassador of Pluto are together!”

“But I heard Jason has a girlfriend.”

“Well, not anymore – now he has a cute little boyfriend!”

The gossiping continued but, in the distance, one could see a storm brewing. The electricity in the atmosphere was making goosebumps on everyone; the air felt suffocating, breathing become a hardship.

Everybody had only one concern: what was happening on the Olympus?

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry, this didn't come out like I wanted to be...


End file.
